Mosel - the picturesque river

The weather is hot like in summer although it's already September. Me and my husband took the flight to Frankfurt Hahn from Tampere. Also a friend of us joined. We hired the car from the airport and started our around trip on Mosel. The car had to be big enough because the men had their road bikes along. They wanted to take part in Nürburgring cycling. Otherwise, we discovered the historical sites by the river and admired the picturesque landscape. Everywhere there are vineyards, lovely old houses, small towns with churches, castles or ruins of castles.

Because of September there are many vine festivals on the area. It's time for that. I enjoy good riesling. We must also feast with cakes.

We had time to see the good part of Mosel. The most southern place was Trier. There is a lot to see. I am fascinated by Roman history, so in Trier there are many Roman ruins. The bridge has Roman base. There is the old city gate, two spas, amphitheater and basilica. But in this city we could also study younger buildings since the middle ages. The cathedral is beautiful and impressive.

While the men were in Nürburgring, I stayed in a lovely small town called Zell. The symbol of the town is the black cat that you can meet everywhere. On Sunday I went to the church which had the special day. They celebrated the end of the renovation and the opening of the church. Everyhing was restored beautifully. After the ceremony there was music and food outside the church.

Near the Mosel there is a fantastic spa in mountains shelter. The thermal spa in Bad Bertrich was so relaxing. The location was amazing.

By car we drove by the river and stopped to visit the places of interest. I had booked the accommodation in different places. We couldn't reach Koblenz because lack of time but maybe next time.

The island of the goddess of love and beauty

Cyprus is the island of goddess of love and beauty. The island itself is beautiful! It is also full of history. Many civilizations have been there and it has been conquered by many famous heros. So the culture is a rich mixture of influences from other cultures.

I enjoyed especially Roman mosaics in Pafos and medieval castles and old churches/monasteries around the island. The jeep safari in Troodos, mountains was something special. I spent only one day by the see in the sunshine but that was the day of relaxing. The food was very tasty.

So there was a lot of beauty around! But no love this time. I think that Afrodite was on her trips somewhere else. People were anyway friendly and leave you alone. I liked that.

Magnificent Africa!

I was lucky to have the opportunity to visit some beautiful African countries at Easter time. This time I travelled in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  The nature was impressive as I expected.

First I wondered the life in Windhoek in Namibia. I stayed in a lovely pension. I also met some people who work for the church. They took me to the Easter ceremony at good Friday. The church was full of people and the priest told about different kings in Africa. Jesus was the kind but what kind of king. I liked the point of view. People song in different African languages and English. The church was filled with music and the sound of pages of Bibles that people carried with them to read the topics. After church we enjoyed the coffee and lunch at home of my new friends. They had a lovely small garden in their house.

The following day I joined the safari group that was a mixed group of different people from many countries. With them I travelled from Namibia via Botswana to Zambia. First I did not like our leader but I learnt to like him. He did the good job. Especially on the way I enjoyed sleeping in a busman's hut, experiencing the Delta by lying on the mokoro boat, having a meeting with a snake and contacts with elephants in a safari lodge and seeing the African animals on a boat cruise. At the end of our journey together we took the ferry across the river to Zambia from Botswana. The high point of Zambia  was the Victorian Falls. They were so impressive!

It was time to split and say good byes to the others. The previous night we had had the last dinner together. Some took taxis to the airport and some wanted to stay longer. I went across the border to Zimbabwe by myself. Everything went well. On the way I admired once again the Victorian Falls and the old iron bridge that links two countries and goes across Zambezi River. I stayed over night in a fantastic safari lodge that had a great panorama. There I was able to wonder vultures and hyenas. People were really friendly.

Unfortunately everything good comes to an end and it was time to return home. But I have many great memories and experiences from this trip in this corner of Africa.

The old Viborg

I visited Viborg at the beginning of December in Russia. Once that town belonged to Finland. Actually Viborg was established by Sweden because they built the castle in 1293. It belonged to Sweden for over 400 years. Peter the Great conquered the town in 1710. The Russian time started. The rest of the country (the eastern part of Sweden) was conquered about 100 years later.
Soon Viborg and the other eastern areas were united as a Finnish area which had the autonomy in Russia. Finland as a nation was created. People spoke Finnish or Swedish. So it was in Viborg. After the revolution in Russia Finland declared the independence in 1917. There was no longer Russia as a neighbor but the Soviet Union. Viborg was the growing town and it was the second biggest town in Finland when the winter war started (the second world war) with the population of almost 200 000. After the war it was lost to the Soviet Union as some other areas. About 220 000 people escaped to the other areas in Finland. My mother was one of them. She was about 20 years and had studied art at the Viborg art school.
It was lovely to walk at the streets that my mother had walked. I visited the art museum and school. Nowadays the town is populated by Russians but its roots are Swedish and Finnish.